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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24902203">you're the only one i want by my side</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/byunkies/pseuds/byunkies'>byunkies</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Best Friends, Boyfriends, But also, But nothing bad I promise, Firelord Zuko (Avatar), Holding Hands, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Out of Character Dialogue, Past Relationship(s), i really just wrote shit and added names, like on god they hold hands way too much</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:46:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,630</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24902203</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/byunkies/pseuds/byunkies</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>being the firelord is more stressful than zuko ever would've imagined. </p><p>thankfully, he has a flirtatious idiot as a best friend, and maybe that said best friend has a few decent ideas.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>215</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>you're the only one i want by my side</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hii welcome to my annual fic &lt;3 </p><p>it took me approximately a few months to finish this so my apologies if it kinda goes downhill or some parts seem forced, i just dont care to elaborate on insignificant details.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Being the Firelord is more stressful than Zuko would’ve ever imagined.</p><p> </p><p>He’s attended five meetings so far and it’s not even midday and he wants nothing more than to lay down and rest. He would’ve imagined that having this high of status meant everyone living by <em>your </em>schedule. It seems that it more means your schedule being out of your own hands.</p><p> </p><p>His assistant, an older lady with gray streaks in her hair and a voice sweet and gentle, tells Zuko that he has one more meeting that day and it’ll take place after dinner. The firebender almost cries real tears of joy as he leaves the meetinghouse.</p><p> </p><p>He relaxes in his bedroom, which is incomparably huge and has artifacts so ancient he doesn’t recognize their significance.</p><p> </p><p>Zuko lays on his bed, studying a canopy tied up into a tidy knot. Scarlet and golden patterns weave in and out of twists with a thick, satin ribbon holding the cloth tight.</p><p> </p><p>He closes his eyes. Nothing happens. He huffs, half-heartedly rolling his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>He leaves his room, careful not to bump into a large table in his pathway. He makes a destination of the main kitchen.</p><p> </p><p>The main kitchen is bustling with chefs preparing for dinner, which is in eight hours. The west kitchen is likely preparing lunch, and the east kitchen has already made breakfast. Zuko doesn’t plan on eating much of any of the buffet-like meals.</p><p> </p><p>He hears a cackling guffaw following a young girl’s shriek. He turns and is giddy to see a tanned boy holding a bloody salmon by its tail fins, wiggling it in the face of a horrified waitress.</p><p> </p><p>Zuko grins and walks to the scene, avoiding the paths of other chefs and waiters.</p><p> </p><p>“Sokka, put the fish down.”</p><p> </p><p>Sokka looks at Zuko and smiles with all of his teeth. “Hey, jerk-lord Zuko!” His nickname is deemed unamusing by the waitress and several other employees around him. “How ‘ya been? Busy?”</p><p> </p><p>Zuko takes the salmon and sets it on a platter on a counter. The waitress can’t stop staring at him — not many workers in the palace actually see firelords, apparently. “Very busy. Care to walk with me?” The tribesman smiles cheekily and takes Zuko’s hand (who blushes, but tries hiding it with a stone face). They leave the kitchen.</p><p> </p><p>Sokka’s hands are cold and sting slightly again his own sweaty ones. Zuko wishes that he wouldn’t display things like this so open and prideful — it’s dangerous for the both of them. A few housekeepers and a librarian have already given them dirty looks.</p><p> </p><p>Zuko grows embarrassed and fearful of the affection and pulls his hand to his side alone. Sokka stops and frowns.</p><p> </p><p>“I just- it’s not safe. Not for either of us.”</p><p> </p><p>Sokka scoffs, “I don’t think I’ll get sent to the guillotine for holding hands with my friend.”</p><p> </p><p>The firebender tilts his head. “You know what I mean.”</p><p> </p><p>Though he rolls his eyes, Sokka doesn’t say or do anything more. They continue walking down the hallway and several others until they’re at Zuko’s bedroom door.</p><p> </p><p>Zuko realizes that Sokka hasn’t been in his room yet. A pang of excitement jumps in his chest and he shoots it down quickly. Technically, it’s not even <em>his </em>room - it’s the room for whomever is Firelord.</p><p> </p><p>He opens the door just slightly and the tribesman is already running around the room like a child. He’s looking at photographs, tapestries, vases, daggers, wardrobes — the entire room. After just half a minute of analyzing the living space, he flops down on the large bed, feet hanging off the side, and sighs happily.</p><p> </p><p>“Your room is amazing.”</p><p> </p><p>Zuko smiles. He doesn’t agree, but he understands that Sokka likely hasn’t been in many royal bedrooms. </p><p> </p><p>“And your bed is <em>really</em> soft,” he adds, grazing his arms all around the silk covers. “The southern water tribe has <em>nothing</em> on these sheets.” They both laugh and Zuko sits adjacent next to Sokka.</p><p> </p><p>It’s quiet. Zuko’s knees are relaxed against his chest and he’s playing with loose strands of Sokka’s hair contently. The tan boy’s eyes are closed and the corners of his lips are upturned.</p><p> </p><p>“I miss you,” Zuko confesses, voice quiet and lacking of embarrassment.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m right here.”</p><p> </p><p>Zuko exhales. “Just for now. I’m so busy that I probably won’t be able to see you again for another month.”</p><p> </p><p>Sokka opens his eyes and looks at the firebender, who catches his gaze lovingly. “When’s your next meeting?”</p><p> </p><p>“Sometime after dinner.”</p><p> </p><p>“And what time is now?”</p><p> </p><p>“Midday, maybe.”</p><p> </p><p>The latter sits up and twists his torso so that he’s facing Zuko. “Let’s go out.” The Firelord raises the only eyebrow that he’s got. “Let’s put on disguises and go out into town.”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s a <em>terrible</em>-“</p><p> </p><p>“You were a refugee for a couple months, right?” A silent frown answers him. “You had to disguise yourself everywhere you went. You <em>know </em>this stuff.”</p><p> </p><p>Zuko sighs. He knows he’d <em>love </em>to sneak out with Sokka, but with the way his movements are monitored every minute and how he’s the <em>spirit-damned Firelord</em>, it’d be hard to leave unnoticed. “I don’t know... it’d be hard for me just to leave this room without being watched by a guard or housekeeper.”</p><p> </p><p>Sokka doesn’t seem fazed at all by this. Instead, his grin widens and he points to a window above a nightstand. “We’re on the ground level, no?” Though he groans, the firebender complies and tells Sokka they best be quick.</p><p> </p><p>Zuko puts on robes from his refugee days that he stuffed away in the back of his wardrobe and undoes the knot that holds his hair up. His hair falls messily amongst his face and his scalp buzzes in delight.</p><p> </p><p>“You <em>need </em>a haircut,” Sokka comments, laughing at how Zuko’s bangs are long enough to cover his face completely.</p><p> </p><p>The Firelord huffs and tucks a few thick pieces behind his ears. He attempts to layer his hair so that it covers his remarkable scar but still leaves him room to see through black strands.</p><p> </p><p>Sokka says he still looks stupid and that he’s definitely going to be braiding his hair soon. Zuko flicks his forehead.</p><p> </p><p>“What about you? Where’s your disguise?” he asks. Sokka smiles with a terrible hint of pride.</p><p> </p><p>“Everyone here has grown so annoyed of me that they don’t even care about who I’m with. They’re just glad I’m bothering someone else and not them.”</p><p> </p><p>Zuko frowns and makes note to give Sokka a little bit better of a reputation on his own time.</p><p> </p><p>Sokka opens the window and climbs through it effortlessly. His slim build and lack of recent exercise makes him much smaller than Zuko, who has a bit more difficult journey through the small window space.</p><p> </p><p>He loses balance once he’s halfway out the window, torso-out and legs-in, and falls on grass face first. Sokka laughs heartily, but nevertheless takes Zuko’s arms and helps him up.</p><p> </p><p>Before the latter can make a joke of it, Zuko quickly says, “Let’s go. We need to be quick and silent so we don’t get caught.”</p><p> </p><p>Sokka nods and begins sprinting through bushes and over ponds with Zuko trailing behind him. They slow down abruptly when they see a guard walking on pavement next to an archway.</p><p> </p><p>“Lee! My man!” Sokka exclaims, pointing finger guns at the guard. the guard scowls and shoos the pair away sourly.</p><p> </p><p>They walk casually, quickly, further away from the palace until Zuko sees shops and houses and stalls all around him. Mothers and children and small animals are roaming the streets, paying no mind to the pair.</p><p> </p><p>Zuko realizes he’s forgotten what it’s like for people to see him and not think twice about it.</p><p> </p><p>The two slow down and Sokka smiles at the black-haired boy.</p><p> </p><p>“Isn’t this nice?”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s busy.”</p><p> </p><p>“Just like you. C’mon, I wanna show you something.”</p><p> </p><p>Sokka takes Zuko’s hand and fits his fingers in divots. The firebender flushes and hopes that people in the city aren’t so judgmental as those in the palace.</p><p> </p><p>They arrive at a valley of fire lilies that sits behind a weapon shack and a small tea shop (Zuko eyeballs its name, only hoping for a similarity to a certain Earth Kingdom tea shop).</p><p> </p><p>They walk among the flowers, mutually careful not to trip on thick stems. Sokka lets his hand go momentarily and lies down on the soft green and red. He pats on the space next to him, and Zuko carefully places himself on the right side of Sokka. His bangs fall on top heaps of hair, exposing his forehead.</p><p> </p><p>Their fingers intertwine easily and they look up at the skies, taking in its warmth.</p><p> </p><p>Zuko thinks.</p><p> </p><p>He thinks that this might be the best way to relieve himself of newborn stress and that Sokka is too good to him.</p><p> </p><p>He thinks that he never wants to leave Sokka’s side and that he’d be so miserable once he’d have to leave back to his tribe.</p><p> </p><p>He thinks that though they’ve only been like <em>this </em>for a mere month, it’s been the best month he’s had that he can think of.</p><p> </p><p>Zuko looks to his side and sees that Sokka’s already looking at him. Painfully prone to blushing, Zuko blurts out a defensive, “<em>W</em><em>hat?</em>”</p><p> </p><p>Sokka just smiles and his blue eyes sparkle with sunlight reflecting off them. He props himself on his arm and leans in closer to Zuko.</p><p> </p><p>The firebender is forcing himself to look at Sokka’s eyes and <em>only </em>his eyes. His heartbeat is fastening and that pang of excitement returns.</p><p> </p><p>Then, their lips meet and it’s sweet and tender and loving. Their eyes are closed, and seldom will eyelashes touch lightly.</p><p> </p><p>Tt’s not rough and there’s not a lot of movement, but Zuko thinks that’s alright with the way he’s cupping Sokka’s cheek with his palm and how <em>quiet </em>and <em>sincere </em>they’re being.</p><p> </p><p>When they let go, Sokka immediately smiles giddily and his cheeks have rare pink blotched upon the surface.</p><p> </p><p>Zuko thinks that Sokka is beautiful.</p><p> </p><p>The two flop back down on the grass and lilies, hands together (unsurprisingly) and smiling like fools.</p><p> </p><p>When it’s been a few minutes of content silence, Zuko thinks that maybe it’s alright to speak.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m thinking of getting rid of that homophobic law my father declared.”</p><p> </p><p>Sokka raises his eyebrows. “You’re <em>thinking </em>of it?” The sarcasm in his voice goes unnoticed by Zuko.</p><p> </p><p>The firebender’s never been good with sarcasm or irony. It’s been that when since he and Azula were kids and she’d make a joke and Zuko would think she was being serious. Sometimes, he’d mistake Toph’s sassy remarks as sincere insults and would be insecure for a good several hours.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah. It’s a bit hypocritical of me to endorse a law like that and then go around... <em>eloping </em>with you.”</p><p> </p><p>Sokka hums. “Well, I personally think you <em>should</em> get rid of it, because I’d really hate for one of my best <em>elopers </em>to be arrested for holding my hand.” The emphasis on the nickname makes Zuko roll his eyes. What else is he supposed to call this? <em>D</em><em>ating?</em></p><p> </p><p>He freezes despite not moving in the first place.</p><p> </p><p><em>Are he and Sokka dating?</em> </p><p> </p><p>They’ve kissed a few times and they’ve shared a bed and tent plenty of times. Are those dating things?</p><p> </p><p>When they went to the Boiling Rock, it wasn’t hidden that they had bonded immensely, but Sokka had Suki and was so smitten with her that Zuko thought of themselves platonically.</p><p> </p><p>Zuko asks with a tiny voice, “Are we... a <em>thing?</em>”</p><p> </p><p>“A ‘thing’?” Sokka repeats with a questionable tone. “Yes, we’re a <em>thing</em>. We’re best friends — that’s a thing.”</p><p> </p><p>“You know what I mean, Sokka.”</p><p> </p><p>Zuko looks at the other, who doesn’t return the gaze. He stays looking at the sky and clouds.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know. We’ve done things that would <em>imply </em>we’re a thing, but I don’t know.” Zuko sighs, unsatisfied with an incomplete answer but unknowing of how to finish it.</p><p> </p><p>“Did you have to establish you were a <em>thing </em>with Suki?”</p><p> </p><p>Sokka shakes his head. “No, we just bonded and then started dating.”</p><p> </p><p>Zuko hums in response and finally looks away from the latter. “<em>S</em><em>hould </em>we be a thing?”</p><p> </p><p>Sokka squeezes his hand. “You tell me, Mr. Homophobic-Law-Endorser.”</p><p> </p><p>The firebender glares. “Keep up with the nicknames and I <em>will </em>endorse that law.” Sokka mimics an offended gasp with a hand on his chest for dramatic effect.</p><p> </p><p>He’s always been a funny guy, really.</p><p> </p><p>Then Sokka takes his chance to talk about their relationship and old relationships. Zuko isn’t sure <em>why</em> he’d willingly bring up exes, but it might’ve been an intimate topic and this is something of an intimate moment.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s just that neither of us have a lot of good experience in dating, right?” Zuko nods half-heartedly. “Like, I had Suki and she's <em>amazing </em>and I love her so much, but I also had Yue, and she turned into the <em>moon</em>. And you had Mai, but she was kind of... your guys’ relationship was kind of depressing.”</p><p> </p><p>Sokka isn’t wrong and Zuko admits that. He and Mai loved each other, but their relationship was far from perfect. On their third and final breakup, it was mutually agreed that they were dragging on a relationship well after its demise and that nobody was that happy. Besides, she missed Ty Lee and couldn’t handle what would’ve been years of being in the palace alone.</p><p> </p><p>When she left for Kyoshi Island, Zuko cried himself to sleep.</p><p> </p><p>“We were both too infatuated with our best friends,” Zuko jokes, looking and smiling softly at the tribesman. Sokka squeezes his hand in return. “I think she’d like me get rid of that law as well.“</p><p> </p><p>Mai has only sent him a letter, but she described how much better Ty Lee is doing with the Kyoshi Warriors and how the town welcomed her peacefully (and several other paragraphs on how she and Ty Lee were bonding.) Zuko realized only an hour after receiving the letter that he and Mai were in the same boat.</p><p> </p><p>“Off topic,” Sokka says, “but that cloud looks like Momo.”</p><p> </p><p>Zuko looks at the cloud that Sokka’s finger directs him to. It does not look like Momo. It looks like a light gray puff with a few thin limbs on its rim.</p><p> </p><p>But he doesn’t want to ruin Sokka’s infatuation with the clouds, so he just hums in agreement.</p><p> </p><p>One or two hours pass and by then, Zuko’s face burns from the sun and he’s started to feel dizzy. He tells the tribesman he’s ready to return to the palace and Sokka says he’s okay with that.</p><p> </p><p>The couple leaves the valley, fingers intertwined. Sokka removes the thin ribbon from his wolftail, as the pressure and dirt from the ground ruined it. Fingers run through dark brown hair until strands separate into a natural middle part. Zuko wishes Sokka wore his hair down more.</p><p> </p><p>Their journey back to the palace is much quicker and easily-navigated than before.</p><p> </p><p>“This was fun,” Zuko says once they've returned to his room, taking Sokka’s hands into his own. He has sincerity written everywhere when he adds, “Thank you.”</p><p> </p><p>Sokka grins. “Hey, whenever you’re feeling stressed, I’ve always got free time.”</p><p> </p><p>“I wouldn’t make that promise. You have your own responsibilities at your tribe.”</p><p> </p><p>“And I can make them wait for you <em>always</em>.”</p><p> </p><p>Zuko wants to kiss him once more, he truly does. But the knock on his door and the declaration of, “Firelord Zuko, dinner is being served at this time,” keeps him from doing so.</p><p> </p><p>He replies, “Thank you, I’ll be there shortly,” and smiles weakly to Sokka. “I need to get ready.”</p><p> </p><p>Sokka nods. “I’ll see you around, jerk-lord.”</p><p> </p><p>Zuko hopes he does.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>see yall next year</p></blockquote></div></div>
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